PROMOTING Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival to a local, national and international audience is not an easy task.

As the public’s needs and tastes have altered over the years, we as a committee have evolved and changed the way we do things in order to maintain our unique style of entertainment for future generations to enjoy.

We have relentlessly tried over the years to have our carnival featured in the national media. We feel we have a great story to tell, especially as Bridgwater Carnival is the oldest in the UK and continues to thrive, whereas other similar community events continue to fall by the wayside due to the economic and societal climate.

We have been very close on a number of occasions. I particularly remember one year, after weeks of discussions, we had secured hourly ‘live’ two minute slots on national BBC TV breakfast for the day before Bridgwater Carnival. The plan was to preview the carnival by talking to our clubs as they made last minute preparations for the big day. Unfortunately, with just hours before the TV crew were due to arrive, we received a call from the production team telling us the planned filming had to be cancelled as the TV crews were engaging in 24 hour strike action.

Bridgwater Mercury:

So of course we were absolutely delighted a couple of weeks back when we welcomed presenter, Richie Anderson and a small team from The One Show. BBC’s flagship magazine programme had chosen to visit us here in Bridgwater to film the progress being made with our entry for the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant, and to interview some of the carnivalites involved. The programme regularly attracts five million viewers, and after years of trying, Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival finally made it onto national television on Wednesday 23 February when the short film featured on The One Show. For those of you who didn’t see it, you can still watch this episode on the BBC iPlayer.

Ironically less than 12 hours after our appearance on The One Show, we received more national publicity and this time it was on the radio. Zoe Ball gave Bridgwater Carnival a positive mention on her popular BBC Radio 2 breakfast show after watching the television the night before.

National publicity for our carnival is good for the town of Bridgwater, Bridgwater Carnival itself, and all of the illuminated carnivals in Somerset.

For all of the latest news carnival news, visit Bridgwater Carnival’s website www.bridgwatercarnival.org.uk.